Review: BattleCommand! – Arm Your Battle Stations

BattleCommand! is a new free-to-play mobile military-based strategy game from Spacetime Games that is now available through Google Play or the App Store. BattleCommand! takes you into the near future as the peaceful nation of Zendria has been invaded by terrorists known as the “Sons of Wrath.” You’ll command a base as battle commander and build an army to eradicate the terrorist scum. It’s time for some war games, shall we?

You’ll be provided with one engineer when you start the game. That engineer is your life-line. This mechanical drone will help you build everything that you’ll need in order to make your encampment successful and for you to overcome the enemy terrorist forces. You can actually have multiple engineers on the screen at once, but their is a hefty price that you’ll have to pay (300 purple crystals, to be exact).

You’ll need to build your infantry and form an Army so you can take out surrounding bases and even online players’ encampments. There are various different types of infantry—soldiers, bombardiers, heavily armored shot-gunners, mech warriors and fast-paced stealth solders (who I liked to consider “cybernetic ninjas”). Like any infantry, you will need to build barracks in order to make your infantry grow. The better upgraded your barracks are, the better choices for your infantry you’ll have. It’s fairly simple.

You’ll also need to build various resources to be able to keep your base afloat. Building oil rigs and steel factories will play a big part as your cash flow in BattleCommand! So be sure to build and upgrade multiple of these. Go all out if you have too.

There are all sorts of different types of items that you can purchase within the game, and there is even a section for micro transactions with your own personal money supply. You can purchase everything from shields that will protect you against enemy forces, flags to place around your encampment to show your colors or to let other players know your whereabouts around the world. If you’re trying to represent your country, do so proudly by purchasing a flag.

I mentioned a little something about purple crystals a few paragraphs above. These crystals will help with speeding up the process of building, as well as allow you to purchase items from within the game’s virtual store. Purple crystals can either be collected by achieving challenges or visiting your allies from your alliance and helping them move along their encampment by tapping on their oil rigs or steel mills.

This is one of those games that you don’t really need to sit around and play for hours upon end. Doing a little here and a little there everyday will suffice as you try to upgrade your encampment to its full capacity, because honestly, it will take a long time for you to be able to have a big army and take over the world. I still don’t think that there is an ending to this game when playing on the line.

BattleCommand! is all about upgrading. It’s nice to be a part of an alliance, because other players will help speed up your factories and buildings and help you get a little closer to where you need to be as commander of a Army. Upgrade, upgrade upgrade your stuff. The better upgraded everything on your base is, the better chances you’ll have of survival.

Your military must grow, casualties are inevitable, and as always, the enemy faced can be a challenge. Expect failure, it’s just bound to happen, but remember that this is a strategy game. You’ll need brains and brawn if you want to be a successful commander of this battle.

In my honest opinion, there isn’t anything special here. The layout of BattleCommand! may seem very similar to other touch-based simulation builders, that’s probably because it is. If you’ve played one or two of them, than you’ve played them all. You’ll have your odd jobs to do around the encampment in order to gain experience point and a steady cash supply. You’ll need to building your armies and send them out on various missions and hope for survival.

I found myself becoming bored with the gameplay personally. After a while, the gameplay just became so repetitive that I had to put it down. Maybe you’ll have more fun here that I did, but after a while I’m sure that you’ll want to be in the same boat.